President Donald Trump has been considering firing FBI Director James Comey “since the day he was elected,” deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Wednesday.

But he only made the decision to fire him after receiving a memo on Tuesday from the deputy attorney general and attorney general making that recommendation, Sanders said.

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And Sanders not only refused to clearly explain why Trump waited so long — and why the White House continued to express confidence in Comey after the election — but also offered varying explanations for why Trump decided it was time for the FBI director to go.

“The president had lost confidence in Comey from the day he was elected. He wasn’t sure that he shouldn’t fire him,” Sanders said. “I think it’s been an erosion of confidence. I think that Director Comey has shown over the last several months and, frankly, the last year a lot of missteps and mistakes.”

Sanders said Comey’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week didn’t help, as well as the lack of vigorous probes into media leaks.

But she said the final straw came from the memo — a document that Trump himself requested after Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein dropped by the White House on Monday on “other business.”

“The Department of Justice officials were here for other business, not specifically to meet with the president on that,” Sanders said.

She said Trump asked them to put in writing what they told him about Comey and that, as far as she knew, neither Sessions nor Rosenstein had previously spoken to Trump about possibly removing the FBI director.

And the written recommendation that Sanders said finally swayed Trump was based in large part on Comey being too hard on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a position opposite of that which Trump took during the campaign.

In the torrent of controversy that has followed the abrupt firing on Tuesday, there has been a bipartisan call for more information about the dismissal of Comey, whose agency is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. That information has been murky at best from the White House, which has scrambled to publicly explain Trump’s justification.

But one talking point remains the same: The firing had nothing at all to do with the FBI’s investigation into Russia and Trump’s campaign.

“No,” Sanders said flatly when asked if there was a connection on Wednesday.

“That’s not what this is about,” Vice President Mike Pence told reporters earlier on Capitol Hill.Such a question is “inappropriate,” counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said.

But such a question is at the forefront of minds across Washington, where even some of Trump allies have acknowledged the timing of the firing is problematic. And with new details emerging Wednesday — like that Comey was recently seeking more resources to pursue the Russia investigation — only deepened the skepticism.

While Trump and his Justice Department cited Comey’s unusual, public treatment of the Clinton probe as the reason for his ouster, Democratic critics called it a “cover-up” and “Nixonian,” and demanded a special prosecutor for the Russia investigation — a call senior Republicans have so far resisted.

Trump, meanwhile, fumed at the backlash, tweeting late Tuesday that “Cryin’” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer acted “so indignant” after Comey’s termination despite stating that he had lost confidence in the FBI director.

The president followed up by dismissing another Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, suggesting “Richie” was responsible for “one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history” and “cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness” once he was caught.

“He should be the one who is investigated for his acts,” Trump declared.

Trump also tried to drive home the White House’s stated justification — that he simply accepted the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein,: that Comey had botched the Clinton probe and was incapable of properly handling the job.

“Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike,” Trump explained via Twitter on Wednesday morning. “When things calm down, they will be thanking me!”

The president charged that “Democrats have said some of the worst things about James Comey, including the fact that he should be fired, but now they play so sad!”

“He wasn't doing a good job,” the president told reporters later on Wednesday. “Very simply. He was not doing a good job.”

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“Yet now they want him to be a martyr,” Conway said.

“You have to have confidence in the impartiality and the non-politicization of the FBI, of the bureau, and Mr. Rosenstein apparently concluded that’s not the case and put forth his recommendations to the president,” she added.

Trump tweeted that Comey’s replacement will be “someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and the prestige of the FBI.” The White House said in a statement Tuesday that the search to replace the FBI director will begin immediately.

The role is a 10-year term and must be confirmed by the Senate, meaning Comey’s firing could jeopardize Trump’s legislative agenda as his administration vets candidates and the Senate begins the confirmation process.

The Senate is working on a health care bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, and Trump has signaled a tax overhaul as his next priority. It’s unclear how much of a priority replacing Comey will be versus fulfilling campaign pledges to repeal Obamacare or slash taxes, especially given that the new FBI director could potentially be involved in the Trump-Russia probe.

It’s a remarkable turn from a president who praised Comey’s “guts” for sending his October letter to Congress, gave the FBI director a pat on the back two days into his presidency and said he had “confidence” in Comey just last month. Press secretary Sean Spicer reaffirmed that confidence just last week.

Perhaps even more striking — or a symptom of poor messaging: He still stands by his past praise of Comey, according to Sanders.

“Knowing the president,” she said, “I would say yes, he does.”

In a post-briefing tweet, Trump attacked Democrats for not sticking to their guns.

“Dems have been complaining for months & months about Dir. Comey. Now that he has been fired they PRETEND to be aggrieved,” he grumbled. “Phony hypocrites!”